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Experimentation on Analogue Models

  • Chapter
Springer Handbook of Model-Based Science

Part of the book series: Springer Handbooks ((SHB))

Abstract

Analogue models are actual physical setups used to model something else. They are especially useful when what we wish to investigate is difficult to observe or experiment upon due to size or distance in space or time; for example, if the thing we wish to investigate is too large, too far away, takes place on a time scale that is too long, does not yet exist or has ceased to exist. The range and variety of analogue models is too extensive to attempt a survey. In this chapter, I describe and discuss several different analogue model experiments, the results of those model experiments, and the basis for constructing them and interpreting their results. Examples of analogue models for surface waves in lakes, for earthquakes and volcanoes in geophysics, and for black holes in general relativity, are described, with a focus on examining the bases for claims that these analogues are appropriate analogues of what they are used to investigate. A table showing three different kinds of bases for reasoning using analogue models is provided. Finally, it is shown how the examples in this chapter counter three common misconceptions about the use of analogue models in physics.

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Abbreviations

ABC:

amoeba-based computing

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Acknowledgements

Thanks to Matt Walhout for suggesting, many years ago, that I might find William Unruh’s work on sonic analogues of black holes of interest. Later, in April 2011, I had the good fortune to attend Unruh’s lecture Measurement of Hawking Radiation in an Analog System and the discussion afterward, at the University of Pittsburgh. Thanks also to the organizers of the conference Philosophy of Scientific Experimentation III (PSX3), for financial support to present the talk this paper is based upon Experimentation on Analogs at PSX3 on October 5, 2012, at the Department of Physics, University of Colorado, Boulder. I benefitted from comments by, and discussion with, the other participants of PSX3 on the many papers related to analogy, including James Mattingly’s talk Experimental Cosmology, which also discussed experimentation on an analogue model (using Bose–Einstein condensates). Another paper on the topic of the same experiments on sonic analogues of black holes, as are discussed in this paper, was presented at the Philosophy of Science Association Biennual meeting in late 2014. As that presentation by Dardashti (and the subsequent publication of a related paper by Dardashti et al. Confirmation via Analogue Simulation: What Dumb Holes can tell us About Gravity (2015)) occurred more than 2 years after I submitted and presented Experimentation on Analoguesat PSX3 in October 2012, the talk on which my article for this volume is based, their commentary on those experiments is not discussed here.

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  1. Department of Philosophy, Wichita State University, 1845 North Fairmount, KS 67260-0074, Wichita, USA

    Susan G. Sterrett

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  1. Susan G. Sterrett
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Correspondence to Susan G. Sterrett .

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  1. Department of Humanities, University of Pavia, Piazza Botta 6, 27100, Pavia, Italy

    Lorenzo Magnani  & Tommaso Bertolotti  & 

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Sterrett, S.G. (2017). Experimentation on Analogue Models. In: Magnani, L., Bertolotti, T. (eds) Springer Handbook of Model-Based Science. Springer Handbooks. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-30526-4_39

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-30526-4_39

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